A diverting journey, and an environmental alert.
A general look around at some of the strange and mysterious natural substances that ancient cultures have used for healing, coupled with a plea for their preservation. Ethnobiologist Plotkin (Tales of a Shaman’s Apprentice, not reviewed) alerts us throughout to the steady loss of habitats and societies being destroyed in the name of progress. He describes himself as being “on the trail of natural compounds that can treat diseases for which modern medicine has no cure . . . this is a quest powered by the desperation of the ill and the compassions of those who would cure them.” If for no other reason than selfish self-interest, he argues, we must save the environments that create substances which could save us from discomfort, disease, and death. His survey of the possibilities includes a native South American potion for treating diabetes (it need only be drunk once every few weeks); substances offering extraordinary pain relief without grogginess; and mind-altering concoctions used under the guidance of a shaman with the aim of psychic and spiritual growth. Emerging high-tech medicine should be used to enhance, not abandon, the ancient cures, Plotkin urges, citing as a prime example the immunosuppressant drug cyclosporin—which arises from a type of Scandinavian fungus. Toxins from frogs; healing tree saps; insect concoctions—all are part of the picture here.
A diverting journey, and an environmental alert.Pub Date: April 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-670-86937-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A soft-pedaling history that packs a lot of synthesis into a palatable-enough package.
An all-encompassing survey of how the Eastern practice took hold in America.
On the heels of Robert Love’s The Great Oom (2010)—an entertaining portrait of early yoga impresario Pierre Bernard and his popular health center—journalist Syman casts a wider net, uncovering yoga’s growth since the mid-19th century. In tackling the challenge of how to define yoga, the author’s study suffers from a kind of amorphous, throw-in-the-kitchen-sink syndrome. Syman continually probes into whether yoga is a religion or a health practice, and traces how proponents from Ralph Waldo Emerson to the Beatles fashioned it in their own way. Emerson’s discovery of “Hindoo” scriptures led to a lifelong fascination with Eastern thought, helping shape the transcendental message in his writings and poetry, while Thoreau’s Walden was the product of an ascetic in the yogi tradition. Thoreau “transmuted his work into an act of devotion,” writes the author, and “made a religion of writing.” Eastern gurus like Swami Vivekananda were featured at the World Parliament of Religions at the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893, and invited to teach at places like Green Acre, Maine, attracting mostly women. Bernard spread the benefits of Hatha Yoga—involving physically demanding breathing and body positions—from San Francisco to New York, and his nephew Theos Bernard traveled to the source, India and Tibet, and wrote popular books on the subject. Even Woodrow Wilson’s daughter Margaret eschewed the conventional lot for an “ideal life” as a seeker in India. Once yoga hit Hollywood, thanks to itinerant ex-pat Brits Gerald Heard and the Huxleys, stars like Gloria Swanson used it famously as their “youth and beauty secret.” Syman moves fluidly through the heady psychedelic years to the “new penitents” of today (e.g., Bikram), who like their yoga “sweaty and religious.”
A soft-pedaling history that packs a lot of synthesis into a palatable-enough package.Pub Date: June 29, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-374-23676-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2010
A significant heads-up for women over 30, along with reassurance and a detailed action plan: yes, there are measurable cognitive changes that occur in midlefe as a result of changing hormone levels, and yes, there are pharmaceutical, dietary, and other measures that can be taken to alleviate or even reverse the changes. Warga, a neuropsychologist, aims this book at educating women and their physicians, as well as pointing health-care researchers in the right direction for more thorough investigation. The root cause of the syndrome (which Warga dubs Warga’s Hormonal Misconception Syndrome, WHMS) is dropping estrogen levels. It includes a range of intermittent disturbances or lapses in memory, speech, attention, behavior, or thinking. Part two of this volume looks at the cause: Warga explains clearly the current understanding of the neurochemical interplay between estrogen and the brain. Part three sets out thorough screening tools for self-diagnosis. In part four, Warga gives extensive, thorough advice on alleviating the symptoms and correcting the cause: hormone replacement therapy, glucose, phytoestrogens, antioxidants, antiinflammatories, along with mental exercises and drills, and learning new ways of focusing on tasks. Choosing the right health- care provider is paramount: choose someone who is knowledgeable about the existing evidence, understanding of the problem, and alert to new treatment options. This book offers validation and hope for those affected by the syndrome. A welcome, emminently worthwhile guide.
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-684-85456-2
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Free Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1999
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